If you give an artist string...

Remember that book (you may have read it to your children if you are my age) titled, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie? 

Well...that is kind of what happened here. I told you that I wanted to crochet around a rock which lead to sketching sea urchins and working on tangles. I was intrigued by the patterns and decided to play with more of the crochet thread/string so began to wrap some around q-tips. (Why q-tips? They were on my desk. (They make make great paint daubers).



There is something intriguing and even comforting to me in the patterns that result. Reminds me of the God's Eyes we made in scouts umpteen years ago. Can you see the zentangle designs forming in there? I began to think of stars and snowflakes and that is what came next. Only on paper. I used the remnants from some snowflakes I cut last week for a garland I am going to do later on. Inspiration for that came from Alisa Burke's Create Daily Holiday Edition workshop I am taking. I used some as a stencil and then attached other pieces as well.



I don't know...can you see how one thing leads to another or is it just my brain?


Again...if you want to see where I went next...come back soon!
HINT:  It involves a hot glue gun.

Added 2/10/2010 - I just came back here to add labels to this entry and does anyone else see the weird face in the journal page on the right? I love when that happens!

Post Thanksgiving Post or Rock, Paper, Urchin

Catchy title huh?

I realized this is the first post I have done since Thanksgiving so I may need to catch you up a bit. I have been hard at work but since some of the creations are actual gifts for my daughters I can't post them here. I did make something for all three of them though and am really happy with how they turned out. Hopefully I will remember to take photos and then post (after Christmas). Remind me!

So what can I share with you?
Here...how about this? I've been wanting to crochet around a stone for quite some time and have even attempted it but this is the first time I was patient enough to be successful. Quite fun actually! My rock is pretty small so I think it would be better to do this on a larger one in order to see more variations in the pattern. Here are the directions I followed and I think they are the best ones I've tried. (Yes I've tried a few) Here was the key for me in Purl Bee's that made the difference....If you have done this correctly this round will curl inwards a little appearing like a low basket. Time to slip your stone inside the basket. 



So this got me thinking about my little sea urchin I have in my curiosity/nature collection and I began to  sketch  that along with my newly covered rock. Initially I tried to capture the crochet strands but was frustrated with their appearance so switched over to a zentangle type of interpretation instead and liked it much better. You can see the change up toward the bottom of the top left hand drawing.



Here is everything all together. And if you are wondering what the blue underneath is....stay tuned!

Yarn Work

Here are a few other things I've been doing...


First is a KNITTED scarf for C3. This was a kit someone gave me a long time ago that I didn't do anything with. Why? Because I know how to crochet and this is knitting! But in an effort to finish up things I have stashed (part of my PhD program "Projects Half Done") I dove in and came up with this...
 

Its not as long as I thought it would be but she likes it and plans to add a large button to it! Another project done! YAY me!

Earlier this week I asked my friend to refresh my memory on making granny squares via skype. I love skype for this kind of thing! I also scrap with another friend every week via skype (though lately she scraps and I do other things like paint, crochet, etc. My scrapping mojo got up and left for a bit.)



At this point I have no plans for these squares but since I have a few skeins of this icky blue yarn I will just keep going until its used up and then decide. Do you do that? I'd love to hear suggestions for using these so please share your ideas!

zinger

Here is another tangle that I added to an ongoing larger piece. 

 This is zinger(the tangle for the challenge over at iamthediva)

 

i decided to add this to the weekly challenge links - might as well since I am actually doing the challenges! duh!

FINISHED!

So excited! At long last I have finally finished my zentangled ABC chart that I began back in Hawaii. This photo is from my phone so isn't the best quality but I really wanted to share it right away! I love getting one more thing checked off of my PhD (Projects Half Done)!!

Done on 14 x 11 inch paper

So let me know which letter you like the best! Or do you prefer a background pattern the most?

Give Thanks

Not feeling too good today so here is a quick journal page I did yesterday afternoon. Enjoy and give thanks for all the beauty that surrounds us!

Ginkgo

background is acrylic wash with hand made stamp block over top

Leaves are acrylic and pen

This one is a possibility for a canvas. What are your thoughts on that? Is this the type of art you would hang in your house? Would you choose other colors for the background? 

NaNoJouMo Catching Up again

Here we are on Day 14 of NaNoJouMo and I am behind in posting. We took the weekend and went away and had a fabulous time seeing the colorful leaves, the mountains, a different place altogether! We had a great time exploring Asheville, enjoying each other's company and talking about our future plans. And rather than trying to catch up with the prompts that Dawn has provided I am opting to share some of the other things I've added to my journal. I will go back to the prompts soon/later/maybe.

These are 4 small doodles I made from some piles of paint leftover from something else. I usually try to throw some paint down on the blank pages of my journal whenever I work on anything so that those BIG WHITE PAGES don't freak me out but I wanted to try and pain some of my pen line doodles that I have. 

                                              

Though I didn't post it in the weekly challenge this is the tangle that Laura Harms (I am the Diva) had for the challenge this week. Mine is a small square that is part of a larger project. I will post it when its finished in about 2 more months.

"Socc"

This is a wax resist piece (again in my journal) that I added acrylics over the top of and scraped the word "hello" into.

And this one is from just a few minutes ago and is a project I am working on for Randy. This is a design that is used for the Chief's group and one that he would like as a painting in his office. I needed to work out a sketch of it before I begin. It helps work out some of the kinks in planning to actually put it on paper. 

I don't always do this step (I paint intuitively - read "by the seat of my pants" most times)

So now I am back on track and will see you again soon! Thanks for stopping by!

Imagine - NaNoJouMo #9

Today's prompt is Imagine by None Other Than John Lennon

I had to listen to the song countless times (only because I love it) and went through every version of him performing it that I could locate online. I wasn't sure what I wanted to say or capture from the song and then thought there really isn't anything more to capture than John himself. I have never attempted a drawing of an iconic figure before so who knows how this will turn out or how long I will need to work on it but I will at least share the steps with you as I go. So far its just my facial lines and a quick line drawing.

Let me say too that my sketchbook filled with my 100 faces I've been working on was slightly damaged in this last move and it really shows up in the photo. Here is the original image:

After adding Sketch and Wash and brushing with water.

No Zending in Sight

No Zending in Sight, originally uploaded by Trish Nonaka.

Day 7

Today's prompt is Who Are You by The Who. Today was a real struggle for me. I don't know why really. Perhaps its because I started my day with some left brain activity and was in that mode? I will tell you that I actually did 5 other attempts before finally accepting this one as is and letting it just be. Things were just not clicking despite some really valid ideas which I liked well enough and made note of for the future. Now who knows but that I may look at these ideas tomorrow and decide that they really are crap and need to be tossed! *L*
I do like this idea a lot though. What thoughts do you have on it? Is it about a particular person and wondering who she is? Is it about women in general and who they are based on what the world sees? Is it about me as an artist; multi-layered, changing, evolving and becoming more defined? Is it something else altogether? I'd love to hear your ideas!

Day 6 NaNoJouMo

“Crystal Ball” by Styx is the prompt ...so here you go!

As I listened to the song I was drawn to the idea of not knowing what direction you are headed in or where to go and the thought of feet came to mind. I did some quick sketches of feet with pencil and then began to draw figures in various directions.


I added the circle shape to represent the crystal ball. I softened edges by sketching the lines I wanted to keep with an Aqua Pro Art pencil and washing with a water pen. I knew I wanted the ball to be hazy  but the images still clear enough to tell what they are. I laid down a layer of clear gesso then went in with a diluted acrylic wash of two blues and a drop of glaze medium added to it.

 

My main focus here was to make the lines between the figures and feet to blend together as though they were appearing in the crystal ball and providing guidance yet not giving any direction or answers. What do think? Did I do it?

Leave me a comment and be sure to let me know if you are participating in NaNoJouMo as well. I'd love to see what you are doing.

NaNoJouMo/AEDM Catch-Up

Day 1 "Take It Easy"

 

Day 2 "Shine On You Crazy Diamond

 

Day 3 "Paint It Black"

Day 4 "Walk This Way"

 

Day 5 "Gimme Shelter"

 

What Happened to the Week?

Wow! This week seemed to fly by for me! Was it the same for you? I started the week off by beginning to crochet an infinity scarf for C3. I finished it on Monday and she wore it to school on Tuesday! I used one skein of yarn and just did a simple single crochet stitch, sewed the ends together and voila!





I did a few face doodles in my journal and decided I like them better without eyes. I think. Maybe. Okay I am not sure at all!

 

Here is a little leaf garland I made using Alisa Burke's idea!

 

I also worked on a background for A Year in the Life of an Art Journal (Relax) prompt but haven't gone any further with it so far.

I have a couple more things but they will be in separate posts coming up shortly!